App answers need for speed questions

Can a FerrariEnzo outpace a LamborghiniAventador? Could Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt outrun a pronghorn antelope? These are the kind of pressing questions that give trivia fans insomnia and spark long-running pub debates.

Now there are answers to those two face-offs -- and about 625,000 more odd contests – in a new addictive app that has potential to keep all ages entertained.

Simply titled ‘What’s Faster’, the interactive game throws up pairs and mixes of cars, planes, helicopters, military vehicles and creatures, and has you nominate your choice of what would win the race.

Inbuilt ‘radar guns’ lend a hand with some hints if you’re stumped. And each rival includes interesting and fun facts so you learn along the way. The app was sparked by US creator Will Stacy’s eight-year-old son, William, asking him which would win in a race between a tiger and a lion. Then another string of similar questions.

“What about if an Olympic athlete raced a lion? Matter of fact, if a Boeing 747 raced an airbus A380, which would go faster?" Stacy says he and his son started looking up the answers – and that prompted even more questions. And then the idea of basing an app around them.

"The first hurdle we faced was how hard finding speeds on some items was. Cars, planes, roller coasters etc are pretty easy to find documented speeds on. But when you get to mammals, fish and birds, we really had to do some digging and researching to find any documented top speeds around those.

"It terms of results, William and I both were really shocked on how fast some birds can really fly, especially when in a dive... The Peregrine Falcon in a Dive can get up to 242mph (389km/h). That's faster than most exotic, top-of-the-line sports cars.

"And then there were the amazing amount of fast cars out of Germany. That is our largest car sub-category - German cars. There are just so many fast ones and so many variations and modification of German cars that go so fast!

Stacy hopes that other families have as much fun with the app as he and William did in building it. “Creating this app has been a father and son labour of love that answers questions such as who would win between the world’s fastest car and the fastest helicopter… my son is a complete “question box” about speed, I love that he is so curious, I was the same way as a child.” Stacy says.

“I see this app appealing to everyone including teachers in a classroom, automobile aficionados, history buffs and animal lovers. Anyone who has a curiosity about how fast the world moves around them.”

The app is available for the iPad in both free and paid versions, and smartphone apps are on the way. A percentage of the proceeds is donated to a Texas-based charity that provides cars and car care to single parents and widows.

So which is faster: the peregrine falcon or the Holden Efijy. Sadly, this is one race that is for the birds, with the Efijy's 280km/h top speed not enough to best the falcon.